


Respect

by wizardofahz



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-29
Updated: 2016-02-29
Packaged: 2018-05-23 22:33:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6132322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wizardofahz/pseuds/wizardofahz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha’s just joined SHIELD and gets her first glimpse of what the new Division Head of Operations, Maria Hill, is really like.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Respect

**Author's Note:**

  * For [geckoholic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/geckoholic/gifts).



> This is my first time doing any sort of Fic Challenge. I hope I didn’t do too badly, and that you enjoy it, geckoholic!

Natasha had met Maria Hill before. Of course she had. What Natasha hadn’t done was spend more than two minutes with her.

Scuttlebutt seemed to give an odd impression of Maria. She was good - everyone seemed to agree on that, albeit begrudgingly in some cases - but young. Very young. Too young to be the newly appointed Division Head of the Operations. Maria was a couple years older than her, but Natasha knew that didn’t mean anything. After all, even though she’d just joined SHIELD, she was a veteran in the business, having been in it for nearly two decades. Age didn’t mean anything.

Which left Natasha to figure out exactly how good Maria was at her job. 

The mission at hand was a combination of two firsts: her first without Clint Barton and her first with Mara Hill. 

The group was split into three teams of five, one for each entry point of the complex they were infiltrating. Natasha was in the team entering from the southwest, Maria in the team from the north.

The mission was the very definition of FUBAR: fucked up beyond all recognition. They seemed to have a welcoming committee instead of the element of surprise, and their vehicles were destroyed not long after they’d disembarked.

One of Natasha’s team was badly injured, but they still managed to meet the east entry team - who all seemed to be fine if not a little banged up - at the rendezvous point, the one designated closer to the compound in case their vehicles had been compromised as they had been. Natasha found herself glad that apparently Maria was the thorough type who had contingencies for everything. 

After some discussion between the two present team leaders on whether to wait for the third team or go, Maria appeared with an injured O’Doherty slung across her shoulder. Maria gently laid O’Doherty on the ground for someone to tend to, let someone dig a bullet out of her arm, and then promptly met with the other two team leaders for a sitrep. They didn’t seem to realize that she was bracing her ribs, probably attributing the way she held her arm to her body to the gunshot wound, but Natasha could see it in her breathing.

She marched up to the trio and addressed Maria. “Can I talk to you? In private.”

After an appraising look, Maria followed Natasha away from the group, swearing as the latter stopped short. Only Maria’s quick reflexes prevented her from walking right into Natasha. The redhead felt a hand against her back, and when she turned, she saw Maria’s other hand wrapped protectively against her ribs. That confirmed it.

“Take off your vest,” said Natasha.

Maria quirked a singular eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“And lift up your shirt,” Natasha continued, pulling some tape out of her pocket. “I’m going to wrap your ribs.” Maria gave her another appraising look but didn’t comply until Natasha said, “Look, you’re hiding it from the rest of them for a reason. Whether it’s because you don’t want to show weakness or you don’t like people fussing over you, I don’t care. I’m doing you a favor here.”

Maria didn’t bother asking Natasha how she knew.

“That’s impressive,” Natasha remarked as the rainbow of bruises that was Maria’s ribs came into view. “How many bullets did you take?”

“Three to the vest. Fourth in the arm.”

“And that’s it?” Natasha asked. She wouldn’t put it past Maria to hide other injuries. Her fingers probed around, pressing into Maria’s ribs to gauge if they were broken. When Maria inhaled sharply, Natasha said, “You should take some pain meds.”

Maria resumed normal breathing and said, “We don’t have enough. We’ve got a day’s worth of hiking to get back to the safe house, which means Kinski and O’Doherty are going to need all the help they can get. Besides, I need a clear head.”

“You could let Rumlow take charge.”

Maria snorted. “Not if I want us to get out of this mess alive.”

“Then let me lead,” Natasha offered. When Maria didn’t respond, Natasha paused her ministrations. “You don’t trust me.”

“They don’t trust you,” Maria corrected her.

Natasha resumed wrapping Maria’s ribs. “Neither do you.”

“Don’t put words in my mouth,” Maria snapped.

“Your hesitation speaks for you.”

“My hesitation says I was considering it. If I didn’t trust you, I would’ve said no outright. I’m not one to beat about the bush.”

“I can see that.”

And Natasha could. It was easy to make generalizations with the SHIELD agents. She was an assassin. Before joining the organization, she had killed some of their own. There were few who trusted her other than Barton and Fury. It was easy to assume that Maria was like everyone else who held the same suspicion that she’d faced day after day.

Apparently Maria wasn’t one of them.

“How’s that?” Natasha asked as she finished up. “Too tight?”

“It’s fine. Thanks.”

Maria lowered her shirt and then led Natasha back to join the rest of the group.

“You girls enjoy your hanky panky?” one of the older agents leered at them when they reappeared.

Maria affixed him with a cold look. “I’m surprised you still know what that means, Bernthal. How long’s it been since you got any? Has it been seven months or seven years?

That shut him up.

Maria crouched beside O’Doherty and placed a hand on her shoulder. “How’re you doing, Aisling?” 

“I’m good, ma’am,” O’Doherty replied shakily with a wince.

“Liar.” Maria belied the accusation with a soft smile, which had Natasha thinking,  _ Pot meet kettle _ . “But you will be. I’ll get us home, okay?”

As soon as all the injuries were patched up, Maria had them on the move.

It was a good thing that Maria was in such good shape because breathing with bruised ribs was painful. Natasha knew it would’ve been even worse if she’d had to breathe hard from the hiking.

Natasha watched as Maria navigated them through difficult terrain and potential ambush situations.

She got them home. First to the safehouse, then to the base. 

After Kinski and O’Doherty were wheeled off to the infirmary on gurneys and Maria made sure everyone else was taken care of, she headed in the opposite direction. Natasha presumed she was heading to her quarters.

“Want me to walk you to the infirmary?” Natasha asked, popping up behind Maria’s right shoulder. Maria managed to show her exasperation through an impassive expression, the same one that Natasha had received every time she’d shown any sort of concern during the past day. Nonplussed, Natasha continued, “You need someone to look at your ribs. Would you prefer I have them bring a wheelchair or a gurney for you?”

Maria’s silent exasperation continued.

“Don’t play chicken with me. I’ll do it. I could do with some brownie points around here. I think the shrink would love it. Look at me, learning to be a team player.”

That seemed to do the trick. With a reluctant sigh, Maria turned and headed for the infirmary.

“I hate you,” said Maria as Natasha followed to make sure she reached the correct destination.

“You’re an idiot,” Natasha responded easily. Three bullets to the vest wasn’t something to be ignored. 

“An idiot you respect,” Maria retorted. 

And Natasha found herself thinking, yeah, she did respect Maria.


End file.
